Riot has secretly nerfed the Orange Essence value of Esports emotes and icons, and the community is outraged.
Orange Essence, also known as OE, was added to League of Legends in 2016 along with the Hextech Crafting system. It’s a currency used to craft cosmetic shards into cosmetic permanents such as champion skins, ward skins, summoner icons, and emotes.
Orange Essence can be obtained by disenchanting champion skins, ward skins, summoner icons, and emotes. Since its release, it has been a staple part of League of Legends and has seen minimal changes to its value.
But recently, Riot Games has changed the amount of Orange Essence a player can get by disenchanting Esports-themed emotes and icons. Unfortunately, the changes were also not announced before it was shipped, making it quite frustrating for the players.
Read More: League of Legends Patch 12.17 Notes: Buffs, Nerfs, and Release Date
Orange Essence Nerf
Before the changes, one of the most efficient ways of obtaining Orange Essence was to disenchant Esports-themed icons and emotes. The esports-themed icons and emotes are dropped from Esports Capsule, obtained by watching any official Riot Games esports event.
However, recently, Riot Games pushed silent nerfs that essentially reduced the Orange Essence gain.
- The price of Esports-themed icons went down from 250RP to 100RP.
- The price of Esports-themed emotes went down from 350RP to 200RP.
- Disenchanting of icons will net less OE, 50 OE instead of 125 OE.
- The removal of the ability to convert esports emote. (It might be a bug)
Community Outrage
Riot Games usually shares every change either through patch notes or Twitter. However, this time, they did not communicate to the players about the changes before it was shipped, leading to confusion among the players.
The changes affected players’ ability to redeem their favorite skins, emotes, and icons from the Hextech Crafting system. Thus, players are pretty upset about the changes, as they should be, and calling out Riot for their response.
In the end, what they actually do? Nerf some OE because imagine players getting OE from Icons, or free emotes and reroll them for others. Is too much for us, we don't deserve nice things, we should suffer more. https://t.co/KVYQ6x2QZq
— Bess (@BessWisty) August 27, 2022
Nerfing orange essence without knowing it is literal theft! This is a usurpation of the right that has been vested. If you're going to nerf it, you can do after that date.
— Yasin Barış (@ysnbrs) August 27, 2022
Besides, many players are also saying that they have lost hundreds of OE because of the nerf and calling the changes “very obnoxious.”
Riot’s Response
Riot Games has not responded to the changes in their English-speaking Twitter accounts yet. But they have given us mixed responses in their Spanish and German Riot support, saying it is an intended change. Sadly, we will not be able to get an update till September 7th, as they are on a social media break.
